


Once More with Feeling

by ZaharaDessert



Series: Simply Players On't [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst to Fluff, Draco Malfoy Being an Asshole, F/M, Graphic Description of Injury, Happy Ending, New guy is better for her, Protective Oliver Wood, Quidditch Injuries, Quidditch Player Oliver Wood, St Mungo's Hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:48:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28225662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZaharaDessert/pseuds/ZaharaDessert
Summary: It's been five months since Jaimi walked out of Draco Malfoy's flat, leaving him with the blonde bimbo in his bed. Since then she's thrown herself into her work as a Healer at St Mungos. But when a Quidditch player comes in with a bad head injury, Jaimi finds something she isn't expecting, and so does he.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Oliver Wood/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Simply Players On't [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902754
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	1. Living in my Head

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to Once more with Feeling, which is the sequel to Take a Bow. 
> 
> I originally had this up on HPFF, but now it's up here. A little rewritten from my significantly more mature outlook on life now. The story is the same, the events are the same, but it's a little more in depth now. Just a little. 
> 
> So... I hope you enjoy. This chapter is the one with the graphic description of injury. It's fairly obvious when it's gonna happen and when it's over.

Jaimi stared blankly down at the Daily Prophet lying on the desk on front of her; she knew he wouldn’t find it hard to move on, but getting married? What was he trying to prove? 

_‘Draco Malfoy, reformed heir to the Malfoy fortune yesterday announced his engagement to Astoria Greengrass, whose older sister he is rumoured to have dated at Hogwarts, a mere six months after his extremely mysterious break-up with Healer Jaimi-Antoinette Fudge. Miss Fudge, who refused to comment on that incident, also refuses to comment on this new development, a sign that she is not happy about it maybe? This reporter is intrigued by the quick engagement and thinks that there may have been some foul play involving Miss Greengrass in the breakup of Malfoy and Fudge six months ago._

_The wedding is due to take place this December, thus far the location has been undisclosed, but this reporter promises to find out everything she can before then. Good Luck to the happy couple, lets hope this one doesn’t end in foul play too shall we?’_

Jaimi scoffed and threw the paper aside in disgust, why would she want to comment about Draco’s engagement? Let alone to Rita Skeeter who would twist what she had said to mean that she was extremely jealous and upset. Though apparently her not commenting had the same effect. She couldn’t win.

Not that she wasn’t upset, but she wasn’t jealous, definitely not jealous. 

Or was she? 

She had loved Draco sure, but he had made the mistake of thinking she wouldn’t notice his lies to cover up his indiscretion. Just because she hadn’t gone to Hogwarts didn’t mean she was ignorant of his reputation, which was why she fought so hard against his advances when they first met. 

He’d spent so long convincing her had had changed, making a show of being a better man, making her feel special. It had all been a lie.

There was a knock on the office door, Jaimi flicked her wand at it and it swung open. 

“Yes?”

A muddy Quidditch player stood in the doorway looking slightly awkward.

“Healer Fudge?” Jaimi nodded, “Healer Barrows asked me to come and get you; he said you had more experience with Quidditch injuries than him. Our keeper…”

“Just a moment.” Jaimi had been on a break, which wasn’t due to finish for another twenty minutes. Knowing Barrows knew this and that he wouldn’t have called her if it hadn’t been an emergency, she grabbed her robes off the back of the chair. Pulling them on, took a last gulp of her tea and snapped the lid back onto her sandwich box. “Let’s go.” She said following the muddy Quidditch player along the corridors to where the keeper was lying. She already had her wand out and was clearing up the trail of mud he was leaving without really thinking about it. In the back of her mind she favoured unconscious over screaming in agony because there weren’t nurses scrambling to put up silencing charms on any of the rooms ahead, but he was injured none the less. 

“He’s in here,” said the Quidditch player slowing up as they reached a door. ”I’m not allowed back in, thank you; I know you were on a break…”

“Save it for later, when he’s better,” She said, putting a comforting hand on the man’s arm and noticing the strong muscles hidden by his Quidditch robes. 

“Beater, right?” 

He nodded, his forehead creasing in both surprise and confusion as he stared at her, seemingly stunned by the comment. 

“Me too, at school,” She said simply with a smile and he returned it, albeit weakly but she could tell he appreciated the gesture. 

Without further comment she flicked her wand at her hair which tied itself up in an intricate knot at the back of her head and was covered instantly in a hairnet. The moment she pushed the door open she was hit by the smell of blood and she knew her suspicions had ben correct. This was bad. 

Jaimi took in the scene quickly and saw that the keeper was lying on the bed, unconscious with his head split open, both his legs broken and what looked suspiciously like crushed ribs.

“Ahh, Healer Fudge, sorry about cutting your lunch break short, I needed…”

“I know, the beater said. What happened?” she asked cutting across the senior healer, the chit chat could wait, what mattered right now was saving Puddlemere United’s Keeper. 

“Bludger to the head and ribs, he fell off his broom," Said a voice behind her, she turned sharply, her assessment of the man on the bed having stopped her realising there was anyone else in the room. A man in this early 40s stood before her, hair on end, looking haggard. 

“The referee didn’t notice and no one got there in time to slow his fall.” He continued, taking her surprise in his stride. “James Higgins, I’m the team captain.” He glanced over at the Keeper’s body looking extremely guilty. 

Jaimi could understand that, the guilt of not having looked out for a team member like you should have done and seeing the direct consequences of that in front of you.

“Why don’t you take a seat, we’ll do the best we can,” She said smiling reassuringly at him, Higgins nodded and left quickly, looking a little relieved to have been told to do so. 

“What do you want me to do?” she asked Barrows, a middle aged, if slightly grey senior healer who, like her, was more keen on getting patients well again in the most efficient way possible than necessarily respecting people’s lunch breaks. 

“Get to work on his head, we can leave the legs till last, I’ve got these shards of rib that we think have punctured his lungs or heart,” He said quickly without even looking up from what he was doing. If there wa sone thing they could agree on it was that while tending a patient you should deliver facts to a colleague as succinctly as possible. This was more than possible when they were out cold. 

Jaimi took a deep breath and walked towards the man’s head. 

This was without a doubt one of the worst head injuries she had ever seen. Jaimi could see his brain through the large crack in his skull. She started muttering, first a diagnostic charm, taking in the readings drifting through the air in front of her eyes for a long moment before continuing to mutter. Cleansing spells and protective spells to make sure that nothing she did cause any damage, a potion to make sure his brain was hydrated, cleaning away the congealed blood, trimming off his hair and vanishing the cuttings where necessary. 

Only once the area was properly prepared did she start on healing the actual skull, the smaller fractures and cracks first in the hope that they would start to bring the larger ones back together. She worked slowly and carefully, despite every second making it even less likely that he would wake up in the end, rushing meant mistakes, mistakes which could not happen when you were toying with someone’s life.

She glanced down at Burrows, who was extracting shards of bone from the man’s heart and lungs. He’d had to open up his chest to be able to see what he was doing, there was blood everywhere, they’d have to get some more in him soon or he would never wake up.

“John, he needs blood, otherwise he won’t wake up,”

“There’s no point giving him blood if it’s just going to flow straight out of him again,” the older healer snapped.

“You asked me here because I’m an expert with Quidditch injuries, are you really going to disregard that experience?”

“I invited you here because I’m the senior healer in this room, and I can ask you to leave if I wish,”

“Don’t be so pathetic, if you send me out, he’ll die, and if you ignore what I say, he’ll die. Now be professional about my suggestion for Merlin’s sake,” she replied, making sure to keep her tone calm. She wasn’t being an arse about this for the sake of it, but it seemed like he was.

A moment later he seemed to realise he was taking his current tension out on her, he nodded and Jaimi sent an alert to the nurses’ station with a wave of her wand.

It took another minute, in which time both Healers continued their work without pause, before the door opened again and a nurse came in.

“Get us some blood, and then come and give us a hand, I called for a nurse twenty minutes ago,” Said Barrows irritably his hands covered in blood, not even looking up at the door. 

It is said that head wounds always look worse because they bleed more than everywhere else. This was in her experience, true and the body partly did this to make sure you make extra effort of protect your brain. Jaimi wondered if, for some reason, the keeper hadn’t been wearing his head padding. 

The nurse was soon back, followed by two others carrying vats of blood.

“Hook him up then, you know what to do, just don’t get in my way,”

Jaimi barely paid attention to what the nurses were doing as she continued her work, the bigger crack had closed a little with the others but with a lot of intricate wand waving the bone slowly knitted itself back together and his head was whole once again.

“Bandages please Harriet, the bone will be soft for while and very sore, he mustn’t touch it when he wakes," The nurse nodded and left to get bandages returning moments later with the exact amount that was needed. “Thank you,”

“I can…” 

“We’ve been through this Harriet; I can’t leave the job half done,” There was no reply and Jaimi quickly bandaged the man’s head trying not to move it too much in case she caused any damage to his spinal cord. Once she’d finished, she went to his legs, legs were easy to fix, compared to a skull. Small intricate wands movements ensued, and the legs were soon fixed. “How are you doing John?”

“Nearly there, legs fixed?” 

“Yes,” Jaimi replied, knowing he wouldn’t risk looking away from what he was working on. 

“We’ll need to give him some Skele-grow, there’s not a lot of some of these ribs left,”

“Agreed. _Accio_ Skele-grow,” She said flicking her wand at the cupboard. She caught the bottle and put it down on the table. 

She watched as Barrows worked, admiring the steady hand he was using. Finally, he pulled back with a sigh, dragged his gaze up to her face and nodded in satisfaction. There was nothing more he could do. 

“Ready to close up?” Burrows nodded, he looked exhausted. “Go and clean yourself up, I can finish here,” He nodded in thanks and left the room without a word. 

Waving her wand and muttering quietly she pulled the man’s chest back together in a similar way to how she had done his head. Most of this was flesh, which unless cursed somehow, healed faster. Apart from the fact that his ribs needed regrowing, and despite the fact that this part of the injuries had taken the longest to fix these would probably be completely healed before he even woke up. 

Casting a final diagnostic, and then the recommended healing charms, Jaimi was satisfied that they’d done all they could and that the rest was up to him. 

She cleared up all the spilled blood with a cleaning spell. Summoning a blanket from the chest at the side of the room she placed it over him, noticing the physique somewhat typical to Quidditch players as she did so. 

She picked up the bottle of Skele-grow and opened it, taking a syringe off the table she sucked some into it from the bottle and added it to the drip the nurses had set up to replace his fluids and blood. Next she summoned blood replenishing potion and added that as well. Writing all this down on the chart on the chair near the door she left the room and called a nurse over. She checked the man’s name and turned to the nurse.

“See he is moved to a private room and clean him up, give him additional Blood replenishing potion every half hour, and contact his immediate family, I will check on him in an hour. Where did his team mates go?” 

The nurse pointed and Jaimi walked over to the seating Area to find an entire Quidditch team waiting for news. 

“Mr Higgins?” He stood up and walked briskly over to her over to her, clearly relieved to see that she was smiling. 

“He’s being moved to a private room now; we just have to wait for him to wake up when he is ready,” She explained simply, knowing that he was likely to have been through this kind of thing before even if it wasn’t as a captain. 

“Thank you, can we see him?” he asked, his tone an expression betraying that despite her words of comfort he was still concerned.

“One at a time, once you have been home and cleaned yourselves up, I can’t let you into his room in that state. The nurses are doing the same for him as we speak,” She said firmly. 

Higgins nodded and gestured to the rest of the team, who filed out after him. Jaimi watched them go and turned, heading back up to the office, where the rest of her lunch was waiting for her. Her feet dragged just a little, and when she next saw a clock she realised why, she’d been in that room for over an hour. No wonder Higgins had looked worried. 

Still, if he was as strong as those muscles said he was, they should have anything to worry about. His surgery had been pretty close to textbook, if she said so herself. 

Barrows was in the office when she arrived, they simply shared a respectful nod at a job well done, and all they could do was wait to see if what they had done was enough.


	2. Time and Time Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Oliver's injuries tended to for now, Jaimi tries to get on with her day to day work at the Hospital.

An hour later, as promised, Jaimi went to check on him. There was now a small sign on the door that said ‘Wood, O.’ Jaimi knocked quietly and entered. There he was lying on a bed, surrounded by pristine white sheets and pillows. The bedside table held a vase of flowers and several cards already; she picked one up.

> _Dearest Oliver, Get well soon! From your number one fan, Alice xxx_

Jaimi rolled her eyes and put it down, the other three cards held similar greetings, as did the note card on the flowers that ‘Rachel’ had sent. It was one thing to send flowers to someone you knew, but another thing entirely to do so for someone you really did not know. What if he was allergic to them? Jaimi looked at his chart, checked his vitals and then stood at the end of his bed looking at him.

Oliver Wood was tall and burly with an intelligent face, his muscular chest and arms showed through the hospital gown the nurses had put him in, which was deliberate Jaimi was sure. The door opened and Jaimi jumped slightly as she looked over her shoulder to see James Higgins come in, holding a card and a bunch of grapes.

“Sorry, they said it was O.k. to come in,” he said, looking a little sheepish.

“Go ahead, I was just checking on him.” She said with a smile, “Would you like me to leave?” she offered, thinking that maybe he had something private to say to the Keeper. 

“No it’s fine, the wife insisted I bring him grapes and a card, even got the children to sign it. I’ll just put these…” he sighed. “He has some dedicated fans I’ll tell you that for free. It only happened two hours ago,” He paused, and Jaimi was a little surprised by the blasé way he had regarded the flowers compared to how she had. She supposed there was a huge difference between being someone who was used to the fame of being a professional Quidditch player and someone who had simply played at school a long time ago before pursuing a different career.

“Get better soon Oliver, we need you. I’d best be off,” Higgins said, having made space on the nightstand for his card and the grapes. 

“Mr Higgins, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what actually happened?” Jaimi asked, her gaze leaving Oliver for a moment to look at him curiously. Higgins blinked, apparently surprised by her interest in the situation.

“There was an argument about a foul,” he started, and her raised eyebrow indicated that he should elaborate, so he continued. “One of their beaters hit both Bludgers at him while the referee was trying to sort it out. Safe to say we then got two penalties, - which we missed - and our seeker was forced to catch the snitch very quickly to end the game and save face a little. We drew in the end,” Higgins sighed and shook his head. It was clear that the team had been rattled by Oliver’s injury. “He too one to the head, next one to the ribs, came off, and, because the ref was distracted, he wasn’t slowed down enough before he got to the floor and that’s how his legs... He was a great player,” Higgins muttered and tuned back towards the door.

“Was?”

“Well you never know with head injuries, do you,” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, he wasn’t hopeful. Jaimi wasn’t sure she blamed him. 

He turned and left, Jaimi stood at the bottom of Wood’s bed feeling uneasy. She hoped there wasn’t any permanent damage, it would be a shame for his career to end now; he was only twenty-six. She stood watching him for a while, the peaceful set of his features, the rise and fall of his chest. She hoped that there wasn’t any lingering damage. 

She was only brought out of her reverie by a commotion in the corridor outside. With a frown she quickly moved from the end of the bed and over to the door. She opened it and all she could see was a sea of people jostling to get at the room she was just coming out of.

“What is going on here?” she called over the din.

“Healer Fudge, they can’t all…” said a small voice from inside the crowd.

Jaimi looked around, security was nowhere to be seen, but she had to do something. She pointed her wand at the ceiling, and it emitted a loud bang. Everyone froze and was suddenly silent; Jaimi took a breath and drew herself up to speak to the crowd.

“I don’t know what is going on here, but all of you will line up against that wall,” She instructed firmly, pointing to the wall opposite Oliver’s door.

The crowd started to grumble and while some moved as she instructed there were more than a few who didn’t, and the noise grew of the crowd grew. Becoming annoyed with the disruption these people were causing, Jaimi felt heat rise in her blood. It didn’t happen often, and she did have pretty good control over it now as opposed to when she’d been a teenager in the throws of hormonal upheaval. 

The power of her grandmother’s Veela blood started to show itself. Her hair shifted as though in a slight breeze and her eyes darkened. 

“Hands on heads, fingers on lips; this instant!” she didn’t raise her voice often and honestly that rise hadn't been to her full volume, but when she used that tone, people listened. It was as if someone had flipped a switch in the attitudes of everyone in the corridor. All of them hurried to the wall and did as they were told. 

“Nurses, back to your stations, please. Was one of you about to check on Mr Wood?” One of them nodded and went into the room, locking the door behind her. 

Jaimi looked back at the line of people before her, hair still shifting slightly in a non-existent breeze. Now how to sort out this mess without causing disruption to the rest of the ward? She approached one end of the line and looked at the teenager standing in front of her. She was blonde and petite, her hair in two long braids, making her look younger than she was, Jaimi wasn’t quite sure why she’d done that. 

“Good afternoon, I hope you’re well. Who are you, and how can St Mungo’s help you today?”

“My name is Rachel, and I’ve come to see Oliver Wood. The nurse wouldn’t let me in; I’m his cousin you see,”

“Is that why all of you are here?” she asked the rest of the line, they all nodded. “Are you all relatives of his?” they nodded again. “I highly doubt that,” she muttered under her breath and flicked her wand and conjured a piece of parchment and quill. “I want you to form an orderly queue, write your names and relation to Mr Wood on the parchment and go and wait in the seating area. Thank you.”

Rachel did not write her name down, simply stood there looking expectant. Honestly Jaimi couldn’t see any family resemblance, and she wondered why on earth this woman thought she was going to get away with her lies. She sighed as she watched the queue of people dwindling and the blonde refusing to move. 

“Are you the Rachel who sent him that lovely bouquet of flowers?” said Jaimi sweetly smiling down at the woman, who nodded eagerly. “Then you are a fan, not a relative, and we can only let relatives see him at the moment,"

“You let his Quidditch team in!” she said, crossing her arms petulantly and stamping her foot. 

Jaimi raised an eyebrow and let out a breath, a wry smile on her face as she looked down at the girl. It was like she didn’t understand that gaining entry to the man’s room by lying to her was not going to be worth the effort. Jaimi was the kind of person to make sure of it. 

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” said Jaimi more kindly than she probably deserved considering her attitude. The girl burst into tears and turned and ran down the corridor. Jaimi rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, this was turning into a very long and tedious shift.

After about twelve repeat performances, Jaimi finally got down to a name on his list that looked plausible. Cynthia Wood – Mother and Cameron Wood – Father, she called them down, they even looked like him.

“I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you a few questions. Our priority is our patient’s safety which I’m sure you will understand,” They nodded politely, assuring her that it was no trouble. A few questions later, and a visit to the nurses station and Jaimi was pleased to be able to confirm that the couple were indeed Oliver’s parents.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, I’ll let you in,” she said with a smile as she escorted them back to the room the nurse who had been checking on him was just leaving. “He’s still unconscious at the moment, if there’s anything you need, just let me know. Were any of the others family or recognisable friends?”

“No dear, thank you for being so professional about this, what’s your name dear?” said his mother smiling back at her. 

“Healer Fudge,” she said with a smile as they walked past her into the room. “There are nurses just down the corridor if you need anything,” She smiled and left them to be alone with their son. Hitching a pleasant smile onto her face she headed down the corridor to get rid of the rest of Oliver’s fans.

Was it wrong that she was looking forward to this?

There were several similar incidents to the first when Jaimi met Oliver’s parents. None of them were quite that hectic, but perhaps the most memorable one was when Rita Skeeter had decided to try and get in the room with him. 

So that his fans can know of his suffering.

Please. 

She’d refused to leave until a senior healer threatened to call an The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol to remove her from the premises. She’d shouted something about free speech, but she’d gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, thank you all so much for the Kudos, and my first comment and subscription! I'm so excited! 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter just as much. I'll be trying to update on a weekend, so either Saturday or Sunday (or maybe both, depends how much encouragement I get to do so I guess...) otherwise I'll forget to do it because of work hahaha!
> 
> So again, thank you for the support, and I look forward to hearing what you guys think!


	3. Falling From Cloud Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been three weeks since Oliver arrived at the hospital. Jaimi has developed quite the relationship with his parents, and they're just waiting for his mind and body to decide he's ready to wake up.

Chapter 3

Three weeks after he was admitted to the Hospital, Oliver Wood still hadn’t woken up; and Jaimi was beginning to worry that he wasn’t going to. Several nurses had reported that his eyelids moved on occasions when they dropped something. But his vitals hadn’t changed, he was stable, but he hadn’t woken up. In three weeks, his wounds had pretty much healed; his legs were fine, his ribs might be a little sore, and from what they could all see, his head was fine too. 

And still he lay there, with his eyes closed, just breathing.

Every morning at the start of her shift, she would go in and check on him to see if there was any change, she had promised to owl his parents personally at any sign of him waking up. Then at the end of her shift she would go and give him the lowdown of what had been printed in The Prophet that morning. 

She didn’t mind taking the extra time, and his parents came in regularly, but they had lives to lead, jobs to be doing and as much as she knew they wanted to stay with him sitting by his side at all hours of the day and night wouldn’t help anything. Whenever the nurses went in to check on him through the day and night, they would talk to him, one sided conversations that they all hoped might give him a direction to head in so that he could respond. 

Three weeks and four days into his stay at the Hospital, Jaimi entered his room as usual; checked his chart for any overnight changes, checked his drip and his vitals. She was just checking his pulse at the wrist when the fingers of the hand she was holding up twitched. Jaimi jumped and dropped the hand back on the bed in surprise before she moved back in and gripped his hand.

“Oliver? Can you hear me?” his eyelids flickered in response. “Oliver, my name is Jaimi, I’m a healer at St Mungo’s.” his eyes slid open. 

“Hi,” he said in a raspy voice. Jaimi pulled her hand away to grab a glass of the bedside table and filled it with water at a wave of her wand. 

“Here you go,” she said gently, helping him sit up as she pressed the glass into his hand.

“Thanks.” He took one sip and then another, and Jaimi stood with him making sure he wasn’t going to choke on the water until he had finished the glass in this manner. “So where am I?” he asked once she’d taken the glass back.

“You’re in St Mungo’s you’ve been here over three weeks; you had a run in with a couple of Bludgers during a Quidditch match.” She said her voice calm, deliberately soft. “Do you remember what happened?” if he could, that would go a long way to suggesting that he’d make a full recovery.

“There was an argument about a foul or something..” he said quietly, counding a little unsure, but it seemed the more he thought about it the more sure he became about what had happened to him. “Next thing I know there are two Bludgers flying at me. I couldn’t get out of the way in time.” He touched the bandages on his head and winced.

“Your head was split open pretty badly, and you broke your ribs and legs,” She said as she quickly checked him over. “But from what we can tell you’re all healed, but likely to be sore for a week or so,” she explained as he nodded along slowly. 

She carried on checking him over, asking him questions and explaining what she was doing. The longer he was awake the easier his responses came, and by the time she was done, she was smiling back at him. 

“Well Mr Wood, I’d say all things considered you’re looking good,” she said, as she slotted his chart back over the end of the bed. 

“Well, it’s nice to know a bed head doesn’t affect how I look,” he responded, almost without thinking about it. She raised an eyebrow and he blushed. “Sorry, I…”

Jaimi shook her head and placed her hand on his arm. “Don’t worry about it, I need to go and owl your parents, they’ll want to know you’re awake. There are nurses around if you need anything, and I’ll be back later. Rest up, Mr Wood, and we’ll have you back on the pitch in no time,” Oliver smiled and thanked her. 

Jaimi left the room quietly, grabbing a piece of parchment from the nurses’ station she wrote a quick letter to Oliver’s parents. Short but simple, encouraging them to come in and see him when they could. 

Jaimi rolled up the parchment and walked up to the office, where she tied it to the leg of the nearest owl and almost threw the creature out of the window, quickly telling it where to take the letter.

On her way back down she let the nurses know Oliver was awake and to make sure they swung by to check on him when they could. 

She nodded and went on her way, and Jaimi hoped that the news that Oliver was awake wouldn’t start another riot. 

Jaimi continued with the rest of her morning as usual, completing her rounds and seeing to a few outpatients with various ailments and mysterious injuries. At around eleven o’clock a nurse approached her.

“Mr Wood’s parents are here; they want to see him.” He said nervously.

“Why is that a problem? Let them.” She said raising an eyebrow and wondering why he was acting so weird.

“There’s no problem, they just wanted to see you first.” He replied quickly.

“Where are they?”

“Waiting outside his room.”

“Thank you Travis.” She said and strode quickly down the corridor towards Oliver’s room. When she reached the door, his parents were waiting patiently outside his room for her. “Mr and Mrs Wood, is there a problem?” 

“You said something about the possibility of brain damage, we wanted to know before we went in…” said Cameron Wood nervously.

Jaimi nodded in understanding. Forewarned is forearmed of course. 

“We had a long chat while I checked him over this morning, and I didn’t notice any signs of it when he woke, but I can see if there’s anything been added to his chart since then that might suggest that he does if you like?” She suggested, her voice gently reassuring. 

They nodded and seemed a little reassured by what she’d said. Jaimi entered Oliver’s room and looked at him lying in bed reading the get-well cards he had been sent, he looked up when the door closed behind her. 

“Can’t keep away from me, huh?” he asked, smiling cheekily. Jaimi put a hand on her hip and shot him a look, then they both grinned. 

“Good to know you have a sense of humour Mr Wood, that’s not new right?” she asked, a fun way to make sure. 

“I assure you, the charm is original,” he replied and she smiled as she picked up the chart from the end of the bed.

“Your parents are here, but I need to make sure you feel well enough for visitors.” There was nothing out of the ordinary in his chart, no strange behaviour, no lapses in memory; everything seemed fine and Jaimi let out a breath of relief. “Everything seems fine Mr Wood, are you o.k. for me to let them in now?”

“That would be great,” He said genially still smiling sitting himself up in bed as Jaimi replaced the chart back at the bottom of the bed and headed for the door. Jaimi slipped out of the door and faced his parents with a smile on her face.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong, his vitals are good and he’s keen to see you. But only you can tell us for sure,” She said gently, his parents, clearly having prepared themselves for the worst, relaxed considerably. 

She’d spent a fair amount of time getting to know the older couple when they’d visited over the last few weeks. They were level-headed and kind, and immensely proud of their son. They’d do anything for him that he needed but it was clear that they didn’t want his career to come to an abrupt and unexpected end.

Oliver smiled at Jaimi as she let his parents into the room and watched her standing at the door until his parents sat down on either side of his bed looking worried. He turned his attention to their nervous faces.

“I’m fine, really, don’t look so worried.” He insisted, he would have laughed, but that still made his head hurt. That hadn’t stopped him laughing with his healer only a few moments ago though.

“You nearly died Oliver, you could have had brain damage and…”

“Mum, I’m fine, I could have had, but I don’t, that’s the difference.” He said firmly. He didn’t want to dwell on that could have happened, he was going to be fine and back on the pitch before they knew it. He was determined. “What have I missed?”

His mother opened her mouth to protest again, but his Dad shot her a placating look and she sighed, seeing that her son wasn’t going to accept her fussing. 

“I’ll leave you guys to it, you all know how to get hold of me if you need anything,” Jaimi said with a smile. 

Oliver watched her go, and only looked back at him Mum when she started talking. 

“Well that Skeeter woman has been poking around the hospital ever since you got here. Healer Fudge has been under a lot of strain because of it. The day after you got here there was almost a riot in the corridor outside your room and she broke it up, checked every single person individually to see if they were who they said they were. She was marvellous, we ended up waiting nearly half an hour to see you, but it meant that you were safe.”

“That’s the Healer who was here when I woke up, Jaimi?”

“Yes dear, she’s been marvellous, an absolute wonder, she owled us personally when you woke up, just like she said she would. She’s been taking good care of you.” Said his mother; having clearly gotten over the fact that he may have died very quickly. Or at least pretending she had for his sake. 

Oliver found himself glancing at the window, through which he could see a figure silhouetted in the light filtering through the gaps, he was sure it was her. Suddenly she was gone, and he felt his spirits sink a little. He shook it off and turned his attention back to his parents.

Jaimi’s heart was beating unnaturally fast as she leaned into the wall next to Oliver’s window. Why was she embarrassed that he had seen her watching him, he couldn’t tell that her eyes had been trained on him for the entire time she had been stood there, she wasn’t even sure that he had known it was her.

This was ridiculous, she wasn’t even sure what was going on. Was it the hours she’d spent in his room when she’d finished work reading the paper to him that had her feeling like she’d connected with him? Or was in the way that he’d started that almost flirting that was really just charm and good humour almost the moment he’d woken up. Was it the relief of knowing that he was going to be alright?

She had never let this happen before; she couldn’t have feelings for him. She cared about him, like she did for all her patients; that much was certain, but that helped make her the healer she was, the fact that she did care. 

But was it more than that?

Had she actually let this happen? 

She was a professional, and she didn’t fall in love with patients on a whim. 

Mentally slapping herself she took a couple of deep breaths and steadied her heart rate. She took one more glance through the window of Oliver’s room, and couldn’t help but smile at the way he was engaging with his parents as they chatted. 

Yeah, this was not good. Jaimi marched back up to the office to give herself a talking to.

Sitting down at her desk and busied herself with sorting out patient’s files, adding notes and putting them in her out tray so that they could head into the archive in case they were needed again.

She eventually felt her fingertips brush the wood of her desk as she picked up the last file, smiling a little wider at the thought that this meant she could go for a walk, and maybe swing by Oliver’s room. 

She chewed on her tongue as she sighed, she needed to let that go. There was no way it would go anywhere and she wasn’t going to turn into some obsessive fan. 

Someone knocked on the office door.

“Come in.” she called without looking up, she wanted to get this paperwork over and done with. The door opened and closed and there were footsteps across the floor. Familiar footsteps but she couldn’t place it. Feeling the arrival’s eyes on her, she shut the file she had been checking, looked up to see who had come in, and choked in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for sticking with me, I really appreciate it. As you can see I've said sod it to an update schedule. Mostly because this fic is written so I don't need to pace myself against writing it. 
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments and Kudos, every single notification of either warms my heart. Hope you all have a good new year!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaimi gets an unexpected visit to her office, or two...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, took me a little longer to get this one up than planned, work was a bit insane, but I've been furloughed down to part time so I'll get this one up pretty quick now.

Jaimi covered her mouth and prayed for the shocked coughing fit to subside quickly, it was embarrassing enough to be having it in the first place, even worse in front of him. Long pale fingers slid her glass of water across the desk until it was right in front of her. She picked it up, her cheeks flushing and sipped slowly to calm the pricking sensation in the back of her throat.

Her mind was reeling and to try and cover her embarrassment she looked away, deliberately facing the wall as she plucked a tissue out of the box on her desk and dabbed at her watering eyes. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked coolly when she was sure she could speak without coughing and turned back to face him. 

“I expected you to be happy to see me, but there was no need to cry about it,” He drawled in a voice that Jaimi was pleased to note, no longer made her toes curl in anticipation.

She took a deep breath; she was far from in the mood for this.

“Get over yourself, you didn’t answer my question,” She said, granting his comment no more than a passing dismissal, that was after all only what he deserved. 

She glanced around the room, meeting the eyes of the couple of other healers working at their desks, who left quickly and quietly, shutting the door behind them. Part of her was glad they’d agreed to leave, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be alone with him, just that she didn’t want to have this conversation, whatever it was going to be about, in front of her colleagues. 

He smirked, the way that only he could, his blonde hair, as always perfectly in place, clothes (black robes with a dark green suit underneath) pressed to perfection and immaculately clean.

His smirk made her want to gag, or slap him, and Jaimi wasn’t a violent person as a rule.

“I’m here to see you,” He said simply, and Jaimi was already annoyed with his cagey attitude. He’d come to see her, the least he could do was be straight with her rather than cryptic.

“Right, and as usual, that’s all you want,” She snapped, fed up with his intrusion into her day already.

“Oh, come on Jai,” he said patronisingly, like he was trying to reason with a child. He jaw tensed as he pushed the closed patient file out of his way and then sat in the middle of the desk, right in front of her. “You used to have all the time in the world for me,” He said running a hand down her arm, looking almost disappointed.

“That was before you cheated on me,” She said flicking her wrist and forcing his hand off her arm, moving to stand up; he put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to stay in her chair. “Get off me,” She hissed.

“Now, now, no need to be like that,” He said softly, his thumbs drawing circles on her shoulder. Her skin tingled a little under his touch, a ghost of the way his touch used to make her feel, his eyes smouldering as he looked down at her, he had once known exactly how to make her tick, and he hadn’t forgotten. “I wanted to talk to you,”

The problem was, too much had happened between them for her to be taken in like that any more. Even if she could feel her body reacting to him, to the memory of how things had been… She just wasn’t interested any more.

“I have nothing left to say to you,” She spat back, incensed that he was trying to manipulate her this way, determined that it wasn’t going to work.

“Good then you can listen,” He said, his voice dangerously low and his eyes losing the endearing element of the smoulder he’d tried as his gaze hardened. Jaimi took a breath and considered calling out for her colleagues to come back, but she’d never been one to back down in any situation, and that would mean admitting defeat, but she wasn’t going to be stupid about this. “Don’t even bother calling for anyone, I can get my hand over your mouth before the message has even reached your muscles and you know it,” He said his eyes boring into hers with an intensity she had become unused to in the last six months. 

So he had meant that as a threat, she hadn’t been sure, but his follow up had assured her that he wasn’t here for pleasantries. His hand had moved over her shoulder, closer to her neck.

“You haven’t spoken to me in six months Draco, what could you possibly want from me now?” she said defiantly, ignoring the fact that his thumb was now stroking her neck.

“Rita Skeeter, seems to think our relationship ended for immoral reasons, and I want you to change that. I also want you to tell her that you’re sad you lost your chance, but you are happy I’ve found someone who loves me as much as you did,” He said casually, eyes still hard, but it seemed like he was trying to pull it back to a smoulder. 

Jaimi laughed, full on belly laughed in his face as she pushed her chair away from the desk and stood up.

“You must be joking, she’d twist everything I said, to make it sound like I was heartbroken and ludicrously jealous,” she shook her head and took a step back. “I’m not about to tell the world a lie, especially not through Rita Skeeter,” She said, her voice firm, trying to make it clear that this was her final decision. 

“You have no idea how close you came to being where Astoria is do you? If only you’d played along for another week,” He snapped, standing up himself and closing the space between them. 

“Played along, you were cheating on me! Did you really think I wasn’t going to find out, or that I wouldn’t leave you over it?” she spat back. 

“You seemed pretty happy playing dumb to me, you know for such a _clever_ bitch you’re…” Jaimi’s hand whipped through the air between them and hit Draco’s face before she even realised what she was doing. 

He caught her wrist as she pulled back her stinging hand, and he let out a long slow breath as he turned his face back to look at her. He had the advantage of being taller, and looked down at her, his eyes burning. For a moment she thought he was going to hit her back, and then he pulled her into him, before running his hand up her arm.

“Hey, sweetheart, no need to be like that,” he said, flipping back to his smouldering voice and gaze, stroking of her arms with both hands.

“You lost the right to call me that the second you started cheating on me,” She said her blood boiling as it raced through her veins, a strange feeling of satisfaction filling her body as she watched his cheek turn red.

“Ahh, but there, Sweetheart, you are very wrong; I’ll never lose the right,” He said, leaning closer, his voice dropping to not much more than a whisper.

“Get out Draco,” She said, pushing against his chest, trying to put some space between them.

“No pet name?” he said mocking her, she only now realised that his hands had stopped stroking her arms, and were holding them, tightly.

“Let go of me,” She said through gritted teeth.

“Promise me you’ll talk to Rita Skeeter,” He said, his voice low again.

“Be serious.” She scoffed, his eyes flashed dangerously and next thing she knew they had switched places and she was trapped between him and the desk, her arms being held so tightly in his hands she could swear her fingers were starting to go numb.

“I’m always serious,” He said leering down at her. “Now are you going to be nice, or do I have to continue being nasty?” 

“There is nothing you could do that would persuade me to lie to Rita Skeeter for you, not after what you did, you cheating bastard!”

Suddenly she could feel the blood flowing back into the fingers of her left arm, and then she felt stinging pain on her left cheek as her head snapped to the right. Draco had slapped her, she could feel the heat where his hand had connected with her face, and looked at him, her mouth wide with shock. 

It was one thing that she’d slapped him, she hadn’t even thought about it, and he was in the middle of insulting her, but she’d said nothing but the truth. 

“You will do as I say,” He hissed as he put his hand back on her arm and shook her roughly, and she grunted in progress. “Do you understand me?” Jaimi could feel the anger she had felt when she had slapped him welling up inside her again and she felt her hair shifting around her face as though in a slight breeze.

“I will not!” she shouted in his face, right on the cusp of losing it in a way she hadn’t since she was in school. She was so angry she was struggling to breathe, the tension building in her muscles and she could feel her nails digging into her palms as she tried to keep herself under control.

There was a knock on the door, and it opened, Oliver Wood stood in the doorway, wearing a dressing gown, with his wand sticking out of the pocket. 

Jaimi’s expression was panicked, but also ferocious, Draco’s dark and stormy. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew that something was very definitely wrong. The redness on her cheek, the way he was holding onto her arms, pressing her against that desk…

Without thinking Oliver grabbed his wand and pointed it at Draco. 

“Let her go Malfoy,” He said firmly and confidently. 

Draco glared at Oliver, his eyes cold, and vengeful. He seemed to be debating whether he could get his own wand out before Oliver could hex him. Obviously deciding that he couldn’t, he let go of Jaimi and stepped away.

Jaimi felt like she could finally breathe again, with the blood finally flowing back to her fingers and she unclenched her fists. She could hold it together, she wasn’t alone any more. She wasn’t going to lose it and seriously hurt Draco by accident and end up in trouble. 

But Draco wasn’t finished.

“I suggest you consider what I said, no one says no to a Malfoy and gets away with it,”

“And the difference between saying no and dumping you is?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips and holding his gaze definatly. He glared at her, and then at Oliver and turned towards the door. Pushing past Oliver who had moved aside to let him pass, but Draco still deliberately bumped his shoulder. Jaimi could have laughed at the childishness of it if she wasn’t so angry.

He stalked down the corridor, his footsteps sharp and angry. And it was only once she couldn’t hear his footsteps any more that Jaimi sank into her chair, her heart racing, her breathing quick and shallow.

“Are you O.k?” said Oliver coming properly into the room, Jaimi looked up at him and watched as he walked tentatively towards her desk. 

She nodded. 

“Are you sure?” he said, clearly concerned, kneeling down in front of her chair and looking up into her face.

“What are you doing up here anyway, this is a staff only area you know…” she said, trying to ignore the fact that he was inches away from her, and his gentlemanly concern was adding to her attraction to him. 

“My parents left about ten minutes ago; they were here for four hours. Once they left the nurses suggested that I go for a walk, make sure everything still worked,” he scratched behind his ear, looking a little sheepish. “I may have gotten lost,” he admitted.

“I see, well, aside from your sense of direction it looks like everything does work, including your quick reflexes. Thank you,” She gave a small smile of gratitude, still trying to get her breathing under control.

“I hear you saved my life; I think I owe you a few,” He said smiling back at her.

She blushed a little, and shrugged. 

“Just doing my job,” she said quietly.

“Apparently you do it really well,” he said with a grin. 

Jaimi cleared her throat and stood up. She’d finally managed to get her breathing back under control.

“You’d better get back; we don’t want you to tire yourself out on your first day now, do we?” she said brightly, brighter than she felt for sure, and she wasn’t sure why she was pushing him away, but she was still reeling and he really did need to get back to bed.

“I suppose not,” He stood up, and cleared his throat like she’d just done. “I’ll see you later then?” Jaimi nodded and he turned, walking back to the door. Jaimi walked with him to the door. “Bye then,” he said slightly awkwardly as he opened the door and stepped out.

“Take it slowly,” Jaimi said quietly as she leaned against the door frame and watched him walk away down the corridor. 

Now she was alone, she found it hard to stem the flood of emotion trying to overtake her body. Anger at Draco for wanting her to talk to Rita Skeeter, fear of what would have happened if Oliver hadn’t come in when he did; gratitude for Oliver’s impeccable timing and confusion about her feelings for him. 

She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. 

Her hands started to shake, and she clenched her fists. 

Oliver rounded the corner and was out of sight.

She felt a tear slide down her cheek and knew she wouldn’t be able to stop them now. 

The last thing she wanted was to go back into the office and have a colleague find her crying at her desk because she was so ridiculously overwhelmed right now. 

Glancing up and down the corridor, which was mercifully still empty. Her eyes fell on the door of a store cupboard and pulled it open, stepped inside, and shut the door firmly behind her. 

She turned and leaned against the wall, sliding down it until she was sitting on the floor and hugged her knees. Soon tears were flowing freely down her face and her sobs could probably be heard out in the corridor. 

Oliver stopped less than ten metres down the next corridor, suddenly realising why he had felt so awkward. It wasn’t just gratitude that had swayed his thoughts about her, she was gorgeous, and despite his parents telling him that she had a temper that could frighten a giant, she was kind and caring. He’d been able to see the fury in her gaze as she’d glared up at Malfoy even in such a precarious situation. 

But she was still vulnerable, and Malfoy had obviously upset her enough for her to slap him, and from the patch of red growing more obvious on her cheek he was sure Malfoy had retaliated. 

He felt uncomfortable about leaving her alone, which he would have felt with any woman, but this was more than that. It wasn’t just that things between her and Malfoy had clearly gotten violent. 

He was intrigued by this woman who had so many sides to her, and he cared about her. There was something about her voice that captivated him, that enticed him. But it wasn’t some trick, he knew that. 

He looked back over his shoulder as he heard a door close rather violently round the corner. 

He was going to go back and do something, anything; he just had to be sure she was o.k. He turned around, his knees still slightly stiff, and walked back along the corridor. At first, he didn’t notice the strange noise, but knocked on the office door and opened it, the office was empty. 

Then he heard it and looked around as he recognised the sound, sobbing, and knew instantly it was Jaimi. It was part logic and part gut instinct, just like the way his eyes tracked to the door on the other side of the corridor. He walked over to the door, and placed his hand on the knob.

He paused, if she had hidden in there she clearly didn’t want anyone to see or even know it was her crying. 

He frowned in thought. 

Would it ruin everything, walking in on her like this? Or did she really want someone to find her, and would it be best if it were he, who knew why she was crying, knew why she was so upset or… whatever. He stood there; hand on the doorknob deliberating for a moment, then decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading... Draco is an arse isn't he? I think this is the chapter I did the most work on since posting it originally on HPFF, seriously, it's like, doubled in length or something. So yeah, I hope you enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaimi and Oliver make a decision, and Jaimi spills some secrets.

Oliver turned the doorknob, as was immediately thankful she hadn’t decided to lean on the door. She looked up at him, tear streaks running down her face and dripping onto her uniform top. She looked surprised to see him, but not upset by his presence. 

Even like this, she was stunningly beautiful. He’d thought so from the moment he’d opened his eyes and taken in the sight of the woman whose voice had been calling to him through the darkness for weeks. Seeing her like this made him sure of his decision, she had been there for him when he had needed her most, and she had saved his life. 

He wanted to be here for her now, if she would let him. Giving her a moment to absorb the situation, a chance to tell him to go away, Oliver waited. 

When she didn’t, he shut the door behind him and sat down on the floor next to her, there was barely enough room for the two of them, but he managed to squeeze into the gap between her and the door and put his arm around her shoulder.

She curled into him immediately, without question, grateful for the comfort he was offering and grateful that she was able to let it out this way rather than the way she’d been about to when he’d opened the door. She found his presence calming, and she could feel the feverish boil in her blood slowly cooling. 

“Aren’t I supposed to be looking after you?” she said quietly in between sobs, as her head dropped onto his shoulder. 

He could feel her shaking, against his side, almost trembling as her emotions overwhelmed her.

“Hey, you did,” his tone was reassuring, and his hand squeezed her shoulder. “Now I’m returning the favour, although I don’t think this quite makes up for saving my life,” he added with an amused smile, hugging her to him and stroking her hair.

They didn’t say anything else, mostly because they didn’t need to. Oliver sat there, letting her cry out what she needed to, the smell of her shampoo drifting up to him with every caress of her dark hair. Soon the sound of her sobbing began to fade until only the shaking of her shoulders showed that she was still crying, Oliver continued to hold her to him, stroking her hair and humming softly, his chin resting on the top of her head, staring at the cupboard wall. 

He could feel the dampness of his dressing gown through his pyjama shirt, but he didn’t care, she needed this, and he needed to be there for her.

After a while she turned into him, one arm sneaking round his middle and he responded by holding her closer, shifting so that she was more comfortable. 

It took a while for the tears to dry up, and dry up they did, but she stayed where she was, feeling Oliver’s heart beating next to her ear. 

“Thank you,” she whispered into his chest.

“Anytime,” he said, making his chest vibrate, she let out a sigh of contentment. 

She felt safe, and comfortable in his arms, and she just didn’t want to move, but she had to, her shift was probably over by now and Oliver needed to get back to his room before someone raised the alarm due to his continued absence.

“We should probably go.” She said sadly, lifting her head off his chest and looking up at him.

“Probably, but that doesn’t mean we have to.” He replied his hand moving to cup her cheek. His fingers were gentle and made her skin tingle where they lay over the faded red mark Draco’s hand had left.

“Oliver…” she started, but he quickly interrupted her.

“I won’t be your patient much longer,” His thumb was moving over her skin, and she wanted so much to lean into him and close the gap between their lips, but she didn’t she couldn’t. 

“I’m going to do this properly, you deserve that,” He declared quietly, and when he moved to close the gap between them, he kissed her forehead, pulling her closer and putting his arms back around her; Jaimi smiled into his chest. 

She was glad he hadn’t kissed her, at the very same time as she wished he had. But it was clear that he had made up his mind, and it wouldn’t be changed. She didn’t want to push him to do so either. He’d done the right thing and the respect that showed was worth more than anything in this moment. 

“We should still get out of this store cupboard though,” Jaimi said a little more firmly, even if she wanted to stay here instead. This was quiet, easy, and safe.

“Or people will think Malfoy abducted you,” He replied absent mindedly, Jaimi stiffened, Oliver noticed and looked down at her a little concerned. “What’s the deal with you two anyway?”

“He cheated on me; I ended it, that’s it,” she said her voice as stiff as her body.

There was more, of course, and they both knew it. She may have ended it, but he’d still broken her heart. There was nothing anyone could do to wipe that event from their history. Oliver seemed to understand her need to keep the explanation simple though and didn’t press for more details.

“Well he’s an idiot, and you deserve better. Come on; let’s get out of this dusty cupboard,” he said standing up and holding his hand out to help her up too. She took his hand and pulled himself up so that they stood facing each other in the darkness gazing into each other’s eyes. 

“Come on Mr Wood, you need to get back into bed,” breaking the silence and the tension with a grin and pulled on his hand, leading him out into the hallway. “I can’t believe he thought he could actually convince me to talk to Rita Skeeter. As if I’d willingly tell her I was jealous just to make him look good,” she laughed.

“Talking to Rita Skeeter might not be such a bad idea though,” He said with an almost cautious grin. “Offer her an interview, if she agrees to certain conditions…” Jaimi stopped and looked at him, the frown on her face not needed to express her disquiet at the idea, especially considering how much the ridiculous blonde had been hanging round trying to get a story about him.

“Are you mad?”

“No, but wouldn’t it feel good to get it out in the open? Really show him that he can’t tell you what to do.” Excitement burned in Oliver’s eyes, “Show the world that you can do better than a Malfoy…” he added with a slightly cocky edge to his smile as he looked down at her.

“So you think you’re better than Draco?” she quipped a mischievous glint in her eye. They laughed and carried on walking. They stayed silent until they got back to Oliver’s room, Jaimi thinking about that he’d said and wondering if it really was a good idea. When they reached the areas where other people might see them, they let go of each other’s hands and just walked side by side. 

Oliver hung up the dressing gown and got back into bed.

“O.k. but only once you’re out of hospital.” She finally said as she paused by the door. 

Oliver grinned and she smiled back.

* * *

_“And now an exclusive live interview conducted by Rita Skeeter, Daily prophet reporter with Jaimi-Antoinette Fudge, healer at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and ex-girlfriend of the recently engaged Draco Malfoy…”_

_“Hello WWN, this is Rita Skeeter, live from Daily Prophet HQ, and I’m here with Healer Jaimi Fudge, who has agreed to give me an exclusive interview. Hello Healer Fudge,”_

_“Please, call me Jaimi,”_

_“Will do, now I got an owl from you about a month ago now saying you wanted an interview if I agreed to certain conditions, which clearly I have, would you mind telling me what sparked the idea?”_

_“Not at all, Draco decided that he was going to come and visit me at work six weeks ago and tried to convince me to talk to you about what happened between us and his engagement,”_

_“So you’re saying you’re here because he told you to be?”_

_“Definitely not, what he was trying to get me to tell you was a lie, and that’s not O.k. with me. He was trying to clear up a mess that was completely his fault by getting me to pretend that we broke up because of mutual differences and that I was insanely jealous of his engagement. When I said no, he lost his temper, and we argued, it got quite heated actually. I daresay he thought he could tame me, make me do what he wanted; I’m pleased to be here to show him how wrong he was,”_

_“So you’re here to tell us exactly what did happen?”_

_“Yes, if that’s O.k.?”_

_“Of course it is, please continue,”_

_“About two and a half years ago I met Draco at a function at the ministry, I went to Beauxbatons, so I didn’t know much about him, what I did know, however, told me he wasn’t someone I wanted to be with, so I graciously declined his advances. He was persistent, promised me he had changed, and from what I saw I had no reason to believe otherwise. So, we started dating, two months later we became official and I couldn’t have been happier,”_

_“When did it start to go wrong?”_

_“12 months into our relationship he started cancelling dates or being late for them. Once I sat through a whole muggle film by myself because he didn’t show. He gave me all sorts of excuses like having to work late and meetings running over, and I let him get away with it, I know what it can be like what with working in a hospital, it happens, but not all the time._

_“The night I broke up with him he was half an hour late and I hadn’t heard from him. I decided to go over to his and see what was going on. I guess I knew; I’d taken the front door key to his apartment off the key ring before I’d even got there. He let me in, and the place was immaculate, like it usually is when I go over there, only he hadn’t been expecting me. The idiot was so flustered he had to ask me what I wanted to drink, stupid question considering I’ve been a Firewhiskey and pumpkin juice girl since I was allowed to be._

_“So, I go into his room, and there she is sitting on his bed, wearing just his shirt. I asked him how long and he said ‘with her, a month’ that was it; I gave him his key back and left. I didn’t see him again until he came to St. Mungo’s asking me to talk to you,”_

_“And that’s when you decided to follow his instructions, but tell us what really happened instead?”_

_“It took a little to convince me to, but yes,”_

_“You needed convincing?”_

_“Hence our agreement concerning the interview, live and unedited, and you let me say what I came here to say,”_

_“And who convinced you?”_

_“Oliver, Oliver Wood,”_

_“The Puddlemere United Keeper?”_

_“Yes, he was my patient at St. Mungo’s at the time; I’d saved his life about a month before hand,”_

_“And why did he get involved?”_

_“He’d woken up from a coma that morning, and the nurses suggested he go for a walk, he decided to come and visit me in the office. He walked in not long after Draco the argument started; Merlin knows what would have happened if he hadn’t. He pulled his wand out, and told Draco to leave me alone, which he did. After Draco left Oliver refused to leave until he was sure I was O.k. I’ve never met such a perfect gentleman,”_

_“And you two are now an item?”_

_“As I’m sure you noticed from the rather obvious signs when he accompanied me in,”_

_“I did, congratulations by the way, and how does being with a Quidditch player compare to being with a Malfoy?”_

_“I thought I was in love with Draco, thanks to Oliver, I now know I was wrong about that. I could have if he’d been the man I thought he was, but there was something fundamentally wrong with our relationship. I really feel sorry for Miss Greengrass, unless of course she wants a lying, cheating, scumbag for a husband. And I’d like to point out, that it doesn’t matter what anyone says about you girls, you deserve so much better than that,”_

_“So, you’re not jealous at all?”_

_“Good Lord no, thank Merlin I got out when I did, another week and I could have been the future Mrs Malfoy, and that’s from the horse’s mouth,”_

_“Really?”_

_“Apparently as long as she’s got a relatively decent pureblood name, and a good figure he doesn’t care who his wife is, I’m pretty sure his feelings have nothing to do with it. That may sound harsh, but it’s what I perceive to be the truth, so I’m not going to stop myself,”_

_“I relish is a fresh unrestricted opinion, Jaimi. Now what do you see in future for you and Mr Wood?”_

_“Oh I don’t pretend to be a seer or anything, but it’s all going well at the minute so I’m feeling positive about things right now,”_

_“How do you work in dates between your shifts and his practises?”_

_“Well, we have dinner at mine once a week and I watch all his matches, as long as I’m not working too, apart from that we get together whenever we can. I’d like to spend more time with him, but we both understand that’s just not possible at the minute, out of the Quidditch season maybe,”_

_“You are positively glowing Jaimi, any particular reason?”_

_“I’m happy, I’ve never felt this way before, and it feels good so I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts,”_

_“Anything else you’d like to add?”_

_“Just that I wish Draco and Astoria the best of luck, and no hard feelings, but she needs to make sure she knows where he is,”_

_“Thank you very much Jaimi,”_

_“It’s been a pleasure,”_

_“Well that’s all folks, don’t forget, you can hear my views on this in the Daily prophet tomorrow, and I promise I’ll be nice Jaimi. Goodnight all,”_

* * *

Draco’s knuckles grew white as his grip on the glass he was holding got tighter and tighter. His eyes were dark with fury, and his face was stormy. 

Astoria sat next to him on the sofa, glancing at him hesitantly. Whatever she thought about his relationship with Jaimi was irrelevant. She knew her place, at his side, unquestioning and obedient. She knew where he was every second of the day, she made sure of it, and now she knew why she did it. He hadn’t cheated on her yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Without warning Draco stood and threw his glass of Firewhiskey into the fireplace where it exploded into flames as the glass smashed and the whiskey flew into the heat. There he stood staring at the flames, their flickering light reflected in his pale eyes.

“Draco?” she said behind him, quietly, nervously. “I’ll always be only second best, won’t I?” he didn’t say a word, but stared defiantly into the fire. “I’m not stupid Draco, you wanted her, and you dated me to get back at her, but it didn’t work, so now you’re stuck with me,” 

“Yes,” he said simply, barely able to speak through his anger. 

“Then you can bet your last Knut I’ll be taking her advice,” she said as she stood up, her voice almost shaking. She was in this for the long haul it seemed, but she wasn’t going to take his shit laying down. Maybe it would be better this way.

He heard her get up and leave, he stayed where he was, anger, grief and hate pulsing through his veins. 

He had lost, to a bloody Gryffindor. Yes, Astoria would always be second best, because he had been an idiot, he had lost the woman who had changed him and made him a better person. But he hadn’t been able to be good enough, and she was right, she deserved better.

He couldn’t hate her; how would he have acted if she had cheated on him? But he could hate himself; he would hate himself, and he could definitely hate Oliver fucking Wood.

Forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's pretty much it. Currently rewriting the epilogue because I'm not entirely happy with it, but it's basically wrapping some things up with some fluff so if that's your jam I'll see you then!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the ride, and do let me know what you think!
> 
> Thanks for sticking with it!


	6. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaimi reflects on some moments in her past on the morning of what might just be the most important day of her life... so far anyway...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suddenly realised how long I've made you wait for this... my apologies!

Jaimi sat on the edge of her bed, back in her bedroom at her mother’s house. It was very early in the morning and the sun’s rays were just peeking over the tops of the houses on the opposite side of the street. A single tear ran down her cheek and landed on the cover of the photo album sitting on her knees. 

She took the corner of the front cover in her fingers and opened it.

Jaimi looked down at a cluster of photographs taken on rides at a muggle theme park, the photos weren’t moving but they didn’t need to be, she could remember the exact moment of the flashing camera with perfect clarity.

She turned the page again, and this time the photos waved back. Oliver and her at a Quidditch match, and the resulting victory party at the team captain’s house.

The pair of them standing on top of a mountain in Austria; having just climbed it muggle style. Both of them were smiling and waving at her too. 

Him in dress robes, and her in a gorgeous dress at a ministry function; organised by the department of Magical games and sports. 

She turned the page again.

The pair of them on the London Eye, enjoying the sights of muggle London. 

At a restaurant with her parents.

She smiled down at the pictures as she turned the page again.

At a colleague’s wedding reception.

Out in Diagon Alley on her birthday.

She turned the page again.

This page made another happy tear slid down her face, as she stared down at the picture. This was the night Oliver had proposed. 

He had taken her out for a meal, telling her to dress up and he would pick her up at seven. Which he did, in a limousine, they drove round London for a bit and eventually arrived at a classy restaurant. He had reserved them a table in the middle of the restaurant and pre-ordered a bottle of champagne for when they arrived. 

They had sat down, ordered their meals, and waited for their starter to arrive. Jaimi should have noticed that he was nervous, but she didn’t, too blown away by how much effort he had put into their evening. 

Their meal had been perfect, the champagne expensive and delicious, and then at nine o’clock, Oliver gulped down his glass of champagne, and poured himself another, setting it on the table and watching it for a moment.

“Did you enjoy the meal?” he said glancing at her.

“Of course I did, I’ve had an amazing evening.” She said smiling and taking his hand.

“Good, because I’ve been wanting to ask you something for quite a while now.”

“Oliver what...?” she had begun, but stopped as he reached into his pocket, got up from his chair, and knelt down on one knee in front of her.

“Jaimi-Antoinette Fudge,” he said revealing a black velvet box, “Would you do me the great honour, of making me the happiest man alive, by marrying me.” He opened the box and nestled in black cushions was a delicate gold ring, six stones, a diamond, a ruby, a sapphire, a garnet, an emerald and another diamond, set in a line across the top of the band, all glinting silently in the light of the room.

The entire restaurant had fallen silent the moment Oliver had moved off his chair and was waiting with bated breath. Jaimi’s mouth had dropped open and she stared down at his nervously handsome face in shock. Her hand went to her mouth as she stared at the ring he was offering her, the most expensive, gorgeous and best thing he had ever bought for her.

“Oliver I…” she stuttered barely able to speak with happiness. His face flooded with hope as she moved her hand away from her mouth and saw that she was smiling. “Of course I will. Yes.” Grinning like a loon, he whipped the ring out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger. The restaurant exploded with applause and cheering and Oliver stood and pulled her into a hug so full of emotion he nearly squeezed all the air out of her body.

He’d kissed her and there was more cheering, Jaimi blushed as his lips released hers and she looked around the room, her joy so much more than she could show by doing anything she knew of. One of the waiters took a picture of them to add to their ‘wall of fame’ and the duplicate, bewitched to move of course was the one she was looking at now.

Her bedroom door opened and Jaimi’s mother walked in carrying a cup of tea.

“You up already?” she asked, and then saw the tears on her face. “Darling what’s wrong?” she put the tea down on the bedside table and sat next to her daughter, putting her arm around her shoulders.

“Nothing’s wrong, mum. I just didn’t think it was possible to be this happy.” She said, looking up from the photo album, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. 

“You wait until you have children of your own, and you see them this happy, then you’ll know you were wrong.” She smiled back at her daughter; her eyes too were glistening with tears. “I think we’re going to need to put a waterproofing charm on our make-up.” She said with a laugh, and Jaimi laughed too.

“Thanks mum, I love you.”

“I love you too Jaimi.” She said hugging her tightly.

* * *

Jaimi stood at the top of the aisle waiting for the music to start; her dad linked his arm through hers and squeezed her hand.

“No second thoughts?” he said with a cheeky smile.

“Definitely not.” She whispered back.

The music started and she and her father made their way down the aisle. Jaimi couldn’t see anything but the face that had turned to see her walking towards him. She felt as though her heart would burst and could barely contain her excitement when her father passed her hand into his.

* * *

“I pronounce you husband and wife; you may kiss the bride.”

And he did, he cupped her delicate face in his hand, and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. He lowered his face slightly as she stood on her tiptoes in her eagerness. Their lips touched and the church exploded with cheers and applause. Oliver smiled into the kiss feeling truly complete for the first time in his life. So inconsolably happy, he thought he would explode in a flash of light. Her body pressed into his, her lips on his, and nothing could tear them apart.

Mrs Jaimi-Antoinette Wood, she was his, and he was hers.

Forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed the final instalment of my little fic, and that it's nicely sewn up any lose ends I left for you. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who gave me kudos or wrote a review, every single one means so much. That little bubble of happiness every time I get an email telling me I've got one is the most amazing feeling. So thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for sticking with it so far. Next Chapter in about a week. Let me know what you think, and Kudos always appreciated if you feel like giving it.


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